Saturday, September 26, 2026

2021 UTME: 19-year-old candidate arrested for forging result

The 19-year-old boy is among eleven candidates JAMB plans to prosecute for forging their UTME results.

• September 3, 2021
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede

A 19-year-old candidate in the 2021 UTME is in custody for tampering with his result, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) revealed Friday.

Spokesperson to JAMB, Fabian Benjamin, in a statement to newsmen, disclosed that the suspect claimed to have scored 380 in the examination conducted in June.

“After several enquiries, 265 kept appearing as his score as against the 380 score,” Mr Benjamin said.

According to the spokesperson, the suspect’s father, John Ifenkpam, had approached a court demanding N1 billion as damages to cover the emotional and physical trauma for offering separate scores.

The candidate claimed that between 2019 till 2021, his UTME scores had been altered by JAMB, which had denied him to study his desired course, medicine.

The statement further revealed that the suspect was invited by JAMB Registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, from Enugu state to Abuja.

“Initially, the boy was given a few minutes to come clean in a closed session with his father and lawyers about the results he was parading but insisted that his original score from the examination was 380.

“After going back and forth, the board tendered evidence to counter the claim by John and his legal representatives.

“At the Friday meeting, documentary evidence tendered by the board showed that John actually scored 265, not the 380 he had claimed,” the statement added.

The 19-year-old candidate is among the 11 candidates the board plans to prosecute for forging their UTME results.

“We have 11 of them who tampered with their results.

Two of them are already being prosecuted.

The remaining ones we are going to withdraw their results and prosecute them.

“The main purpose is to sanitise the system, including our own staff,” the Registrar was quoted as saying.

“There was never any communication of 380 with this boy. Because this boy has accused JAMB, we are going to withhold his result until the investigation is concluded.

“We are going to request that our interactions with him be subjected to the public.”

The candidate’s lawyer is said to be appealing for further attestation.

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Enugu State Independent Electoral Commission (ENSIEC)

States

Enugu LG Election: Residents blame voter apathy on lack of awareness

The election took place in the 17 local government areas of the state.

Mr. Macaroni

Showbiz

I had no regret helping others despite facing tribulations, says Mr Macaroni

Veteran Nollywood actor Peter Fatomilola had earlier appreciated Mr Macaroni for his generosity.

World

Al Jazeera kicks against Israeli PM Netanyahu’s ‘toxic’ media remark

It noted, “This rhetoric cannot be separated from the heavy toll borne by Al Jazeera’s journalists in Gaza.”

newly commissioned officers of the Nigerian Armed Forces

NationWide

Tinubu charges newly commissioned military officers to protect Nigerians

Mr Tinubu said the NDA had enhanced its counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency training.